Author: Heavy Feather
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“Mouth Light,” a story by Ben Segal
The shape of his teeth formed a border and strangers crowded gladly. It was nice but Eric’s jaw hurt. Then darkness, bowing, handshake lines. Eric’s smile was tight-lipped but real. He’d be off again before light. He traveled mostly to the boring parts, unloved towns and shacks in factory shadows, other exurban depression sinks. It…
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Rooted, the best new arboreal nonfiction edited by Josh MacIvor-Andersen, reviewed by Miranda Schmidt
Recently, Portland, my home, was covered in a layer of ash and smoke from nearby wildfires in the forested Columbia Gorge. Wildfires are common in the west but this year’s intensely hot and dry summer has created conditions that mean, as we inched towards fall, it felt as if the whole of the west coast…
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Two Poems by Kai Coggin
Still (in two parts) I. I find myself lately usingthe word stilllikethere are still flowers,there are still trees,there is still laughter,there is still the silent moon that watches our dark movementsthere are still moments of wonder that can take your breath and turn it magic a lake freezing the sounds it echoes from beneath the changing…
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“Daughter’s Lament,” a poem by Candice Kelsey
“The ways in which I am my mother’s daughter are infinite.” ~ Roxane Gay I’m just a blueprint spread across the drafting table like warm butter only I do not melt under your heavy stone palms pressing my corners. Your red pencil a sun dial ready to cast shadows on my body this body…
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“Equivalence Point,” a poem by Jeff Pearson
My father really died because he wanted to save gas mileage.A bishop asked me to touch his body to feel there was no spirit in there, formaldehydealready nourishing the cells like xylem and phloem trying to escape to the ground.There is nothing like ice, high melting point. Unlike mercury. Like the poisonous vial of slithering…
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Three Collages by Erin Case
*Ed.’s Note: click images to view larger sizes. No Taste Pillarist Window Erin Case is an award-winning visual artist based in Midland, Michigan, with a focus in collage. Working in both analog and digital methods, she is regarded for the marriage of surrealism, sincerity, and evocativeness that is present throughout her body of work. While still…
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Poetry: Rebecca Street’s “Sixth Sense”
1. GustationIf I was the one screaming, you were the one covering my mouth. Call this an oversight, if you will. I was too loose. I was shaken, not stirred. I was free and handed to you by a stranger. Remember when you replaced the racket in my hand with a baseball bat? Skull cracks.…
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We Could’ve Been Happy Here, debut story collection by Keith Lesmeister, reviewed by Ray Barker
The characters in Keith Lesmeister’s debut short story collection, We Could’ve Been Happy Here, are populated with men stuck in the painful middle-distance of life, haunting the rural and lonely locales of the Midwest, the Iowa small towns serving as a microcosm of their weary worldview. The parameters of the physical geography are clear: fading…
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Flowers & Sky, lectures and unpublished poems by Aaron Shurin, reviewed by Daniel Casey
Every poet is unconsciously dominated by particularities. There is a moment in the writing life of most when they come to realize not just their habits or style but also obsessions and predilections. It is a moment when a writer sees their work from the outside. Often, this will lead to self-imitation or, to put…
Heavy Feather Review 